What happened on March 26th?

Once in a while I get nostalgic, simply because I have loved so many moments in my life. While I don't dwell on the past, I definitely try to stretch the memories for as long as possible. I never want to forget any events which have shaped me.

March 26, 2010
Jonsi - Live dress rehearsal at 3 Mills Studios, East London

Unbeknownst to us, we answered an ad to be an extra in a Jonsi music video and instead showed up to a private show! There were only about 100 of us, all in some sort of animal dress, as encouraged by the vague email. Show up here, this time, wear a costume. I didn't care, anything to do with these Icelandic greats, I was game! We were treated to some wine, some crisps and the first dress rehearsal of Jonsi's world tour. Amazing. Speechless.

This performance has since been released as a DVD entitled "Jonsi - Go Live". Pay close attention and you will see Miss Ray Louise Coyle and I near the front, on the right hand side of the stage :)

It's only my back but I made it on film!

Screen cap from 'Go Live DVD'

Screen cap from 'Go Live DVD'

I was able to film a bit that night but was too entranced throughout most of the show so this was the encore. The drummer, though not Samuli  Kosinen (from Mum and the drummer on the album), he was equally talented. I could stare at him all night!

March 26, 2009

Wellcome Collection - London

I passed many evenings strolling through London's finest museums. Tonight, I picked the Wellcome Collection which was on the way home by Euston Square. Free and delightfully informative, the Wellcome Collection highlighted the sciences and medicine, two of my favourite topics. From Malaria to the Human Genome Project, I was able to immerse myself for a couple of hours in some of today's hottest issues.

The Human Genome Project - pages & pages of DNA ...

March 26, 2008

Bologna, Italy

Before I settled in London, I went on a bit of a European jaunt. For the Italian leg of it, I was joined by my lovely bestie Becky and her equally lovely then sort-of bf and now definite-Fiance. We stopped by Bologna on the way from Venice to Florence.

Credit to some of the photos (the lovelier ones, go to Matt!)

March 26, 2005

Easter Preparations in Helsinki, Finland

So what does one do to prepare for an Easter away from family? You make the best Easter with your fellow orphans! Some of the erasmus students we lived with never had an Easter egg hunt and we thought that was highly unacceptable. We went to the shop, got side-tracked shopping for wacky shoes, loaded up on booze and started a bake-a-thon. We lived with a Polish girl. If anyone would know how to do Easter, it would be the lovely Anja ♥

We must have ventured off the path to the grocery store...

 

OK back on track, we loaded up or cart with the quintessential Easter supplies: flats of cheap LIDL beer and 35cent Orange juice!

Back on track, we finally produced some fine baked goods, boiled eggs and sorted out all our candies and chocolates in preparation for the next day's festivities.

And just to be fine examples of the studious exchange students that we were, we capped the night off at Umo Jazz club in downtown Helsinki. Great memories indeed!

Melissa, me, Pedro & Alvaro ♥

Helsinki 2005 - A Walk Down Memory Lane

     I did a bit of cleaning up and I stumbled on some photo CDs! Imagine that, I haven't used a photo CD in years ... so I decided to back them all up onto my trusty hard-drive. I ended up flicking though a lot of the photos and I thought I'd post a few and share the memories of a time in my life that I will hold close to my forever. While most people settled down and got proper jobs, Melissa and I embarked on a journey halfway across the world to experience something most people never get to experience: living, loving and most of all laughing (all the while completely confused as we spoke not a word of Finnish).
     OK, we knew how to say "Little Boy" (pieni poika) and surprisingly, that came in handy numerous times! 
     Also, one random memory that just came to me was the first time we went to the supermarket in Helsinki. We were looking for something as simple as salt. But when you're in a foreign country with packaging in languages you can't comprehend (Finnish or Swedish), finding salt can be the most challenging thing. After about 5 minutes of debating a) which one is salt and b) what the different coloured labels are, this random dude from another aisle casually walked by and said "that one"! Well that sorted us out! That was also the supermarket that taught me cilantro and coriander are virtually the same thing. I looked around and around for cilantro, only to "settle" for coriander because it smelled the closest thing to cilantro .. doh!

At the Pasila train station after a night out at Amarillo ... it was so fun we even took their sign home!

Yes, we went to class (sometimes!) Here is Mauri working hard on his screen printing.

The Italian leaving do ... we came, we stayed until sunrise on a school night, but no, we did not conquer!

Spring cleaning, or rather our one and only ever flat cleaning! Look at all the crap we found in our "Crack room"

You know it's serious when you make Sangria in a bin and stir with a bottle!

We lived in the same building yet for some reason, it's easier just to all crash at ours ...

Easter Preparation Part I

Easter Preparation Part II

Helsinki, I will love you always, even when you are freezing cold...because you're beautiful!

     So all the photos above are from March 2005. Wow, in one month, I lived a lot. And that's how life should be ... Hope to find more and immortalize them in the Blogosphere!

 xx

Holiday in Whistler

     After having lived in London for the past few years, a visit back to Vancouver is always interesting. I guess you don't really miss what you have until you leave it for a while! I know Vancouver is beautiful, but it didn't really hit home until my boyfriend came to join me for a few weeks ... then I started to look at Vancouver through a tourist's eyes again and have now regained a new found inspiration from the landscape (great beaches help too!)

     We spent our first few week exploring Whistler. The last time I was there, it was a one-night party trip with a few friends and we barely explored the Village. This time, with five full days, we were able to try a few new restaurants, hit a lake, go up to the top of the mountain, and more importantly, work on our tans!

Capturing the 2010 Olympic spirit!

Gorgeous and patriotic moment :)

  
     Dinner on our first night was at Bearfoot Bistro at 4121 Village Green. We chose this restaurant as our 'splurge' over Araxi because of its fantastic 3 course dinner menu for $45. I just noticed the price went up to $55 though ... You may also recall the winner of Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen (US) Season 6 recruited it's winner to be the Executive Chef. Sadly he left Araxi shortly after the Olympics so that bit of novelty factor also swayed me towards Bearfoot.

     We had fresh Effingham oysters and a seared scallop to start (+$8), followed by an angus beef tenderloin and a lamb shank (+$5) for me. In between courses, we went to the sub-arctic vodka tasting room (why not!). For $16 a pop, not cheap, although we are always game to try something fun! To top it off, I finished off with a Coconut Snowball (swirled with a coriander dressing! my fav!) while Darren had a box of handmade chocolates. Pastry Chef Dominic Fortin really outdid himself with a basil infused strawberry chocolate amongst other flavours!

Atlantic lobster mini-starter

Lamb shank with bone marrow (served in a bone!); Beef Tenderloin in the background

  
     The following day, we took a Ziptrek Ecotours Tour (Bear Tour). I would recommending the extra splurge to take the Eagle Tour since it has a line that is twice as long as the longest line in the Bear Tour. We had to watch our budget though, but had an equally thrilling time on the Bear Tour I'm sure!

Me, upside down!

Totally gorgeous right?

    
     Next up was a day at Lost Lake. No photos though, it was just the most relaxing day, jumping in and out of the water and working on our tans while getting on with our books. Take-home message: when you can't reach somewhere, get someone else to put on your suncream for you :) My bf burned his back, just in the parts he couldn't reach. I didn't do my wifely duties (ie nag) because I saw he took the initiative to slather himself in SPF. Little did I know he had missed a (massive) spot!

     We got an amazing offer on the Peak to Peak Gondola (2 days/$39.95 each) and took full advantage of it. It's the longest unsupported Gondola in the world! Once we took the gondola up to the Lodge, we went even further up with the Peak Express chairlift. I have to tell you, it is one of the most exhilarating experiences when you feel the sun shining down on your while a light arctic breeze keeps you the right amount of tingly cool!

Enjoying the view at the top!

View at the top

Looking down in the Peak to Peak Gondola

     I had been on bear-watch all day and we had spotted one in the gondola on the way up. I clearly recall shouting "BEAR! BEAR!" like a little kid ... Can't help it! We spotted one from our chairlift on the way back down the Blackcomb side:

So cute!

 
    Next day, we went up the mountain again, and in the same spot as the previous day, we saw a mama bear and her cubs!:

     We rounded out our Whistler trip with one last gulp of the breathtaking views ... I obviously skipped on a lot because in my true Chinese style, I took a picture of virtually everything. This edit took restraint ... I kid you not! I will end with these last few pics ... everyone must experience Whistler in the winter AND in the summer :)

So beautiful with thick feathers for the cold

So cute but not sure what he is ..

Another bear! Dragging his hind legs :)

Eating Our Way Through Victoria BC

I don't know about you, but my favourite thing to do on any holiday is to eat my way through it! Although our mid-week trip to Victoria wasn't so much a holiday as my friend Catherine was there for work, we spent the majority of her downtime seeking our next foodie conquest! While some of our choices were uninspired (ie chain restaurants), we did hunt down some local specialities. Since Victoria is a harbour-side city, seafood was at the top of our list.

We stayed at the Fairmont Empress hotel, an icon in downtown Victoria. Although I was tempted to experience their traditional afternoon tea, a walk through the lobby where they serve it one afternoon was enough to quash my idea. I'm sure the tea, cakes and sandwiches were fantastic but the ambiance was a bit too mellow for my liking. Especially on a gorgeous day out, it seemed like a shame to spend $45-$55 indoors sipping on hot tea! Will add it only my list of things to do in the future.

On the topic of tea, my favourites in London are at Laduree at Harrods and at Bob Bob Ricard in Soho. My favourite treat at Laduree has always been the Le Saint Honoré Rose-Framboise. Their macaroons, are to die for as well! They come in the cutest collectible boxes.

Wow, cake fantasy over! What was I going on about before that departure? Oh yes, food. Without a doubt, the first place we dined at was The Keg Steakhouse on 500 Fort Street. The exterior gave the restaurant an outdated appearance yet the interior proved warm and inviting. We stuck to our old favourites: Mushrooms Neptune, Escargot, and rare Prime Rib. Mine was a regular cut, rare, with an all-dressed baked potato. No point in messing around!


Craving a sweet ending to our meat feast, we came across The Soda Shoppe on the corner of Government and Humboldt Street only to see that it was closing. After a stroll through the Empress, we decided to get cakes via Room Service along with a cheesy chick flick on Pay-Per-View (When in Rome). Our last Room Service experience ended up with us spending $100 on chicken fingers, pizza, nachos and "two of everything!" so we were more careful this time. Even with this pricey experience as a caution, we still ended up spending about $45 on two pieces of cake! ($14 per cake, delivery fee, taxes and gratituity included AND we gave an additional $5 tip in cash!) Another lesson: check the bill to see if gratuity is included before handing anyone a tip!

Our second foodie day began with breakfast at Milestones. I had the Prime Rib hash, an utter saucey feast in my mouth! They are smart to incorporate last night's left over prime rib into a truly meaty breakfast. Topped with two oozy poached eggs and (not enough!) hollandaise sauce, I knew I made the right choice when the other girls dug into my plate before theirs.


We reunited at 4:30pm at The Oyster Bar on Humboldt Street for Buck-A-Shuck oysters. We rounded out our 7 Fanny Bay oysters each with a Steamer of mussels and clams in a Pernod cream. An absolute delight for little damage to our wallets!




As if that wasn't enough food, we reconvened a few hours later to hit The Soda Shoppe for an old fashioned ice-cream dessert. I had a Capital City banana split all to myself to the amusement of a few patrons. For some reason, we were still hungry after this, though I'm not sure how it was possible. After much debate, we ended up at the trusty Earls at which I ordered some hot wings. This was my first "OMG it's Wing Wednesday!" moment in two years. I had to indulge!


Last but not least, I capped off my visit with the discovery of Red Fish Blue Fish. I expected a casual dine-in restaurant but strolled down a ramp to find a delightful little fish shack. It had just opened 5 minutes prior but the queue was already growing. For good reason! We had their BBQ Fanny Bay Oyster Tacones, Tempura Cod Tacones and curry fries. Simply delectable street food! If I had a few more days in Victoria, I would have definitely returned to try their fish and chips.


This pic is just a representation of the Tacones ...
Finally, I must have to add that the highlight of this trip was not just the food, but my visit with my old friend Melissa and her cutey-pie Kole. It's amazing how time flies yet when two friends are together, it's as if nothing's really changed (other than maybe the fact there is now a toddler on the loose!)